Social Theory Group – Decolonial Studies and Critical Thinking – Argentina

Silvana Martínez, Director

The Social Theory Group – Decolonial Studies and Critical Thought – Argentina (G-TEP) began in 2017 at the Institute of Social and Human Studies, a joint initiative of CONICET and the National University of Misiones. In 2020, G-TEP relocated to the Faculty of Health Sciences and Social Work at the National University of Mar del Plata. It has been a Full Member Center of CLACSO since 2022.

Objectives

1. Develop studies that contribute to social theory and critical thinking from other epistemologies, border thinking and a transdisciplinary approach.

2. To contribute to the development of decolonial studies by analyzing historical experiences of the decolonial turn and processes of social and popular emancipation.

3. To train human resources in the lines of research developed by the G-TEP, through the incorporation of new researchers, doctoral and postdoctoral fellows, thesis students, interns and research assistants.

4. Integrate cooperation and exchange networks with other national and international researchers, institutes, centers, universities and research groups.

5. Disseminate the results of the research at scientific events and through the publication of books, book chapters and scientific articles.

6. Develop spaces and mechanisms for communication and reflection with different social actors: social movements and organizations, governmental and non-governmental organizations, community leaders, among others.

7. Develop social technologies, training programs, advice and extension and transfer projects, through agreements with public bodies and national and international non-governmental entities.

Lines of investigation

1) Feminisms, genders and dissident identities

2) Subjects, subjectivities and processes of subjectivation

3) Social violence and the construction of social order

4) Coloniality / postcoloniality / decoloniality

5) Politics, power and social inequalities

6) State, work and public policies

7) Epistemologies and methodologies of the Social Sciences

It is not only a space for training, research, and knowledge transfer, but, fundamentally for us, it is a space of resistance and struggle against the patriarchal-modern-colonial-capitalist order and neoliberalism. It is a strong epistemic and political commitment to promoting processes of building popular power and supporting the emancipatory processes of Ladino America, a term coined by Leila González, interwoven with Indo-Afro-American critical thought.

It is comprised of faculty researchers, professionals, and students from various disciplines at the National University of Mar del Plata, the National University of Santiago del Estero, the National University of Rosario, the National University of La Plata, the National University of Cuyo, and the National University of Misiones. It also includes faculty, researchers, professionals, and students from the National Autonomous University of Mexico, the University of Chile, the Alberto Hurtado University of Chile, and the University of Antioquia, Colombia.

Arandu is the realization of one of the objectives of the G-TEP (Group for Social Theory, Decolonial Studies, and Critical Thought), comprised of researchers and fellows from the National University of Mar del Plata and other universities and research centers in Argentina. The journal's name is a word of Guarani origin, the first Indigenous American language recognized as an official language. Its meaning refers to wisdom and knowledge. This name expresses the journal's recognition of and identification with the cultures and knowledge of our Indigenous peoples and the struggles for liberation and emancipation in the Americas from a decolonial perspective.

Arandu is a semi-annual, open-access, peer-reviewed electronic journal published under a Creative Commons license. It is part of the core collection of scientific journals of CONICET, Latindex, and LatinREV of FLACSO Argentina.

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